Ford Takes @ $20 BILLION ‘Write Down’ and Dumps the EV F-150 Lightning

[AbleGuy]

It might be an under-exaggeration to say that the market for electric vehicles is rapidly cooling down.

Ford Motor Co. just announced that it is pulling the plug on its EV trucks after a costly strategy failed to deliver, retreating from the electric strategy it vowed to go all in on just eight years ago.





The company said it will take an ENORMOUS $19.5 billion in charges, one of the auto industry’s biggest write-downs to date.

“Instead of plowing billions into the future knowing these large EVs will never make money, we are pivoting,” said Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley. Ford plans to lean harder on gas-powered vehicles and ramp up hybrids and extended-range EVs that include onboard gasoline engines.

It will also stop making the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
(from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/ford-takes-a-195-billion-hit-on-its-ev-trucks/500887)

And it also just canceled a $6.5 billion battery agreement with LG Energy Solution Ltd. as it continues to shrink its plans for electric vehicles.
Ford notified LG of the canceled order on Wednesday

Also… “The European Commission backed away from what had been the world’s most aggressive timeline for phasing out internal-combustion engines, granting manufacturers and consumers more time to move off gasoline.

And…General Motors (GM) Co. recently incurred $1.6 billion in charges tied to paring EV production capacity, and flagged more such moves may be in the offing.

And…Stellantis NV has scrapped plans for a fully electric Ram pickup and revived gas-guzzling V-8 engines that it will have no trouble selling in a US market that has hollowed out fuel economy and emissions standards.”
(From: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-car-transition-unravels-slowly-164203804.html)

It looks like hybrids are going to be the focus of many auto makers next, instead of fully electric vehicles.


So what do you guys think is going on?

How dead is the EV market today?

How dead will it be tomorrow?

If any of you expo members have a Ford Lightning, what does killing that vehicle off so quickly mean to your sense of continued ownership?

 

[Fenderfour]

I think the US EV market is (obviously) in trouble. The leading company (Tesla) is hamstrung with a very unlikable CEO who is having a huge impact on sales. It seems other ICE manufacturers really struggled to launch their own models for reasons ranging from crappy technology to sales teams having no idea what they were selling. Public charging infrastructure is crappy outside of Tesla-enabled vehicles in Tesla markets, and even then profiteering on public chargers has made topping up a battery as expensive as gassing up an ICE vehicle. Add in folks regularly stealing the charging cables from existing installations and you never know if you really can charge at the next spot.

Hybrids are neat, and very complicated.

I feel like the US as a whole crapped the bed on this one. Sure, lots of folks are convinced they need a big truck to commute to work or the ability to drive 400 miles unsupported. Those weren't going to be the early or middle adopters anyway. The early and middle adopters would create a market to push the infrastructure and technology further for the outliers to eventually adopt as well. With the current direction, I expect we will see a negative growth on EV ownership across the US to pre-tesla levels.

 

[z168]

The big let down of EVs are its resale. And the cause for low resale are consumers, even car enthusiasts, are fearful of EVs with expired warranty. The battery repair/replacement market isn't quite there yet that it will be economical to swap batteries on used EVs. Perhaps in the next 5-10 years.

 

[AbleGuy]

Following up on this…

Ford is also dumping its plans for an all electric Ford Vans!

Its Ford EV van, previously was predicted to be added to its production line in 2026 and not long ago was reportedly said to be "on track" to meet that predicted timeline.


“it shouldn't come as a surprise to learn that a future all-electric Ford van slated to be built alongside the next-generation F-150 Lightning has also been canceled.

Ford has announced that it will replace this planned EV commercial van in North America with a new "affordable commercial van" offering both gas and hybrid powertrain options."

the new Ford EV van, it was previously slated to enter production in 2026, and was reportedly "on track" to meet that date, previously.

https://fordauthority.com/2025/12/ford-ev-van-also-cancelled-new-gas-model-will-take-its-place/

 

[AbleGuy]

I think the US EV market is (obviously) in trouble…

Hybrids are neat, and very complicated.

I feel like the US as a whole crapped the bed on this one…

That’s a good analysis. Because hybrids can be very problematic.

So if Ford truly wants to make a successful switch from full EV to Hybrid F-150’s, it needs to really, really up its game here too.

Unfortunately, it seems for several years in a row, the F-150 hybrid has gotten poor grades for reliability from third party evaluators.

“The Ford F-150 Hybrid has proven to be a bit of a trouble spot for the Blue Oval in recent years, with the automaker grappling with various issues that have impacted its performance and reliability. Consumer Reports dubbed it the least reliable vehicle in its 2022 rankings, and it was one of the publication's least reliable vehicles in 2023. Unfortunately, the F-150 Hybrid hasn't yet shaken that reputation, and has once again landed itself at the top of the list in 2024”

From: https://fordauthority.com/2024/12/f...n-crs-least-reliable-vehicle/#google_vignette

 

[driveby]

Honestly for the Overlander crowd (small market in the grand scheme of things) an EREV makes the most sense. Lots of low end torque, EV in town but some sort of generator for towing or extended bush driving. If RAM makes the RAMCharger in a Rebel format and Ford makes a F350 EREV those are vehicles I could really get behind. And really current tech handles most peoples realistic needs but if realism played a part in auto sales we wouldn't have Corvettes, Mustangs or F350 at Costco's Halo cars bring eyeballs, rental car trims sell volume.....

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It was a couple years ago, a guy tried towing a Model A on a trailer with his Lightning and barely made it home. IIRC he only had like 75 miles of range pulling a little car on an aluminum trailer.

That is a pretty tough sale for anyone that is using it for a truck.

And if you don't use it as a truck everybody that does will tease you about it so it still a minus.

We had hybrid battleships (minus the plug in or battery bits) during WWI, the concept of a combustion engine charging a battery for an electric driveline is not a new one. You get range, you get gutwrenching amounts of torque, you get variable speeds without problematic 10+/- speed transmissions, you get your range, and you can even add solar to it to top it off at times as well.

 

[SimplyAnAdventure]

I have a 2023 F150 Lightning XLT with the big battery…. Hands down and without question it’s the best vehicle I’ve ever owned.

Mine is solely a commuter vehicle and I charge 100% for free at work so obviously that’s an enormous factor in my decision.

Free charging aside it’s FAST, quiet, comfortable and does anything I could ask a truck to do. I have a dedicated 60A circuit with a Tesla universal 11.5kW charger on it at my house but I almost never use it.

The conspiratorial part of me says Ford seems the premise of very low maintenance costs on EV’s and that’s a huge part of profit for dealers. In fact I just put new Toyo Open Country AT3 EV tires, Wipers, and washer fluid on my truck and you might as well consider it new…. Even brakes see almost ZERO use as the one pedal driving makes them all but obsolete for anything but an absolute emergency.

TBF we also have ICE vehicles, a RAV4 Adventure as well as a 2023 F350 Godzilla Tremor with a Supertramp on it. While the lightning has taken us on several long trips sometimes it’s just easier to take the RAV4 to expedite things.

I do plan on putting a ThAir Camper on the Lightning at some point and use it at a winter Steelheading rig since my Tremor and camper don’t come out in the salt. I love the fact that the Lightning as outlets in the bed. Running a small 400W heater in an insulated camper would make for a comfortable and silent night.

Side note the Lightning is a MASSIVE battery storage that can feed my home backup battery system…. With what I have installed now and the Lightning I can run my entire house for 10 plus days easily without sacrifice.

Guess I’m kind of on the EV bandwagon but it wasn’t so cheap to run I certainly wouldn’t be using one.

Final note, for a point of reference I bought mine the very day they got marked way down, window sticker on mine was $75k and with the Ford Discount and now defunct federal rebates it was exactly $20k off. While I think $55k for a half ton truck is silly, that’s just the world we are living in.



I might be the only EV in the country with the License plate “OVRLAND” on it.

 

[Ex Animo]

It might be an under-exaggeration to say that the market for electric vehicles is rapidly cooling down.

So what do you guys think is going on?

How dead is the EV market today?

How dead will it be tomorrow?

If any of you expo members have a Ford Lightning, what does killing that vehicle off so quickly mean to your sense of continued ownership?

The EV market is far from dead, there are several factors at play here and you can't take a narrow focus on a worldwide industry.

-US EV sale are down 1% from last year, globally they are up 21%
-For November of this year all new car sales are down 6.7% in the US
-The $7,500 tax credit expired in September, a lot of people bought early this year before that expired
-There is a lot of uncertainty in the US about the economy, people are holding off on large purchases, killing off a $60K-$80K luxury vehicle might just be reading the economic tea leaves.
-The current administration has started an all out war against all things renewable and US automakers rely heavily on government subsidies.

BEV's are a budding technology that have exploded into the market over a short period of time, there are bound to be growing pains. Add in the decades of policy, marketing and fluctuating fuel prices and the US is in an arms race of building bigger and more expensive cars. Just look at the top selling vehicles in the US, they are all mostly full-size trucks which are not cheap to outfit with a battery big enough to push all that mass. The Chevy Bolt flew off the lots and yet they killed it since the profit margins aren't as big as more expensive trucks and SUV's.

I think the US EV market is (obviously) in trouble. The leading company (Tesla) is hamstrung with a very unlikable CEO who is having a huge impact on sales. It seems other ICE manufacturers really struggled to launch their own models for reasons ranging from crappy technology to sales teams having no idea what they were selling. Public charging infrastructure is crappy outside of Tesla-enabled vehicles in Tesla markets, and even then profiteering on public chargers has made topping up a battery as expensive as gassing up an ICE vehicle. Add in folks regularly stealing the charging cables from existing installations and you never know if you really can charge at the next spot.

Hybrids are neat, and very complicated.

I feel like the US as a whole crapped the bed on this one. Sure, lots of folks are convinced they need a big truck to commute to work or the ability to drive 400 miles unsupported. Those weren't going to be the early or middle adopters anyway. The early and middle adopters would create a market to push the infrastructure and technology further for the outliers to eventually adopt as well. With the current direction, I expect we will see a negative growth on EV ownership across the US to pre-tesla levels.

Charging infrastructure in my experience hasn't been much of a issue and is getting better but yeah there are still short comings. Tesla having the largest charging infrastructure is problematic and will hurt all EV owners in the future. Most people charge at home anyway and only use public charging on road trips. My Bolt costs me $30 month to charge, that's pretty cheap compared to my Tacoma.

I feel the US hasn't adopted EV's as the future because of culture war BS, they have become a "us vs them" hotbed issue. It's sad because the US and US automakers are going to be far behind in technology and foreign auto companies will have a major advantage. It really makes you wonder what the long-term thinking is here, we all know that fossil fuels are not an infinite resource, environmental concerns aside oil will become harder and harder to get. What happens 20-50-100 years from now?

That’s a good analysis. Because hybrids can be very problematic.

So if Ford truly wants to make a successful switch from full EV to Hybrid F-150’s, it needs to really, really up its game here too.

Unfortunately, it seems for several years in a row, the F-150 hybrid has gotten poor grades for reliability from third party evaluators.

“The Ford F-150 Hybrid has proven to be a bit of a trouble spot for the Blue Oval in recent years, with the automaker grappling with various issues that have impacted its performance and reliability. Consumer Reports dubbed it the least reliable vehicle in its 2022 rankings, and it was one of the publication's least reliable vehicles in 2023. Unfortunately, the F-150 Hybrid hasn't yet shaken that reputation, and has once again landed itself at the top of the list in 2024”

From: https://fordauthority.com/2024/12/f...n-crs-least-reliable-vehicle/#google_vignette

Hybrids can be problematic when the auto maker builds a crappy drivetrain but that's true for non-hybrid vehicle too. The most recent Consumer Reports reliability findings show that hybrid cars, on average, come with 26 percent fewer issues than their gasoline-powered cousins. That doesn't include plug-in hybrids which appear to be less reliable than standard hybrids.

Honestly for the Overlander crowd (small market in the grand scheme of things) an EREV makes the most sense. Lots of low end torque, EV in town but some sort of generator for towing or extended bush driving. If RAM makes the RAMCharger in a Rebel format and Ford makes a F350 EREV those are vehicles I could really get behind. And really current tech handles most peoples realistic needs but if realism played a part in auto sales we wouldn't have Corvettes, Mustangs or F350 at Costco's Halo cars bring eyeballs, rental car trims sell volume.....

I am excited for the vehicles like Scout are making for this reason. This is a "expedition" forum after all but the vast majority of car owners never put their TRD pro in low-range or use the lockers on their wrangler.

 

[jkam]

An all electric work truck is just stupid. And the car makers were pretty much forced into doing it.
A hybrid, and I like diesel for a fuel source over gasoline for the engine is the way to go.

Ford should have done the hybrid F150 right from the go.
Then they wouldn't need to write off so much and probably would have had a fair amount of sales.